Sample location for the Sampling Quadrangle Assembly Research Experiment (SQuARE), Square 03 in the starboard Servicing Work Area of the International Space Station. An open crew bunk is visible at right. The yellow dotted line indicates the boundaries of the sample area. Credit: NASA/ISSAP/Walsh et al., 2024, PLOS ONE, CC-BY 4.0
New results from the first archaeological fieldwork conducted in space show that the International Space Station is a rich cultural landscape where the crew creates its own “gravity” to replace that of Earth and adapts the spaces of the modules to suit their needs.
Archaeology is generally thought of as the study of the distant past, but it is ideally suited to revealing how people adapt to long-duration space flight.
In the SQuARE experiment described in our new role In PLOS ONE, we reimagined a standard archaeological method for use in space and got astronauts to do it for us.
Archaeology… in… space!
The International Space Station is the first permanent human settlement in space. Nearly 280 people have visited it in the past 23 years.
Our team has studied the exhibits of Photographs, religious icons and works of art. carried out by crew members from different countries, observed the load which returned to Earth and used NASA's historical photographic archive to examine it. relationships between crew members that serve together.
We've also studied simple technologies like Velcro and resealable plastic bags, which astronauts use to recreate the Earthly effect of gravity in the microgravity environment, to keep things where they left them, so they don't float away.
More recently, we collected data on how the crew used objects inside the space station by adapting one of the most traditional archaeological techniques, the “shovel test pit.”
On Earth, once an archaeological site has been identified, a grid of squares with a side of one metre is laid out and some of these are excavated as “test pits”. These samples give an idea of the site as a whole.
In January 2022, we asked the space station crew to design five roughly square-shaped sample areas. We chose the square locations to encompass work, science, exercise, and leisure zones. The crew also selected a sixth area based on their own idea of what might be interesting to observe. Our study was sponsored by the International Space Station National Laboratory.
Then, for 60 days, the crew photographed each square every day to document the objects within its boundaries. Everything in space culture has an acronym, so we called this activity the Sampling Quadrangle Assemblage Research Experiment, or SQuARE.
The resulting photographs showcase the richness of the space station's cultural landscape, while revealing how far removed life in space is from science fiction images.
The space station is messy and chaotic, overcrowded and dirty. There are no boundaries between where the crew works and where they rest. There is little to no privacy. There isn't even a shower.
What we saw in the squares
We can now present the results of the analysis of the first two squares. One was located in the US Node 2 module, where there are four crew bunks and connections to the European and Japanese laboratories. Visiting spacecraft often dock here. Our target was a wall where the Maintenance Work Area, or MWA, is located. There is a blue metal panel with 40 Velcro squares and a table underneath for attaching equipment or doing experiments.
NASA intended the area to be used for maintenance. However, we saw virtually no evidence of maintenance there and only a handful of scientific activities. In fact, for 50 of the 60 days our research covered, the plaza was only used to store objects, which may not even have been used there.
The amount of velcro here made it a perfect place to on purpose Storage. Nearly half of all items recorded (44%) were related to keeping other items in place.
The other square we've completed is in the US Node 3 module, where there are exercise machines and the bathroom. It's also a passageway to the crew's favorite part of the space station, the seven-sided cupola window, and to the storage modules.
This wall didn’t have any specific function, so it was used for eclectic purposes, such as storing a laptop, an antibacterial experiment, and resealable bags. And for the 52 days that SQuARE lasted, it was also the place where one crew member kept his toiletries kit.
It makes some sense to place toiletries near the toilet and exercise machines that each astronaut uses for hours every day. But this is a highly public space, with other people constantly passing through. The placement of the toiletries kit shows how inadequate the facilities are in terms of hygiene and privacy.
What does this mean?
Our analysis of Squares 03 and 05 helped us understand how constraints like Velcro create a kind of transient gravity.
The grips used to hold an object form an active gravity zone, while the unused grips represent potential gravity. Analysis of the artifacts shows us how much potential gravity is available at each location.
The main purpose of the space station is scientific work. To do this, astronauts must deploy a large number of objects. Figure 03 shows how they transformed a surface intended for maintenance into a staging area for various objects on their journeys through the station.
Our data suggest that designers of future space stations, such as The commercials Currently planned for low Earth orbit, or Gateway Station Being built for lunar orbit, storage may need to be made a higher priority.
Square 05 shows how an unknown crew member claimed a public space on the wall to store personal belongings. We already know that there are not ideal conditions for privacy, but the persistence of the toiletries bag in this location shows how the crew adapts spaces to compensate for this.
What makes our conclusions important is that they are based on evidence. Analysis of the first two squares suggests that data from all six will provide further insight into humanity's longest surviving space habitat.
Current plans are to take the space station Coming down from orbit in 2031, so this experiment may be the only chance we have to collect archaeological data.
The authors would like to thank our contributors Shawn Graham, Chantal Brousseau and Salma Abdullah for their work.
Justin St. P. WalshProfessor of art history, archaeology and space studies, Chapman University and Alicia GormanAssociate Professor of Archaeology and Space Studies, Flinders University
This article is republished from The conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the Original article.
